As somebody who is fairly new to West Berkshire, I cannot understand how a district council and it's elected members can be so out of touch with the people who ultimately allow them to serve on their behalf. The impression I get is that the council is nothing more than a glorified "club for the boys" with all of the real work being left to officers so that members can bicker over the same points time and time again.

One person who stands out more than most is Cllr Pamela Bale. First of all, Cllr Bale made a complete hash of her attempts to generate cash through the Nature Discovery Centre, and in the process tried to pass the buck to Thatcham Town Council to try and dodge the bullet which is the anger of the public. Let us be clear, Cllr Bale was attempting to raise additional revenue through the centre from the start of the process, and I don't think people are opposed to the centre being responsible for generating more revenue to pay the bills, but people are asking the question as to why the council could not just say this from the off.

Now, Cllr Bale has shown how out of touch she really is by claiming that West Berkshire Council were unaware of the research being carried out on behalf of Newbury Town Council regarding the problems arisen due to the Parkway Development. I am shocked that nobody at WBDC reads the local paper, which reported why the town council were going to carry out this survey weeks ago. I would be very surprised if Newbury Town Council had not notified WBDC of their intentions to carry out the survey, but if they didn't tell West Berks then heads must roll there too.

The whole council appears to be out of touch, but Cllr Bale is now the public face of what is wrong at West Berks. Is it time for her to go???

And are you a Labour stooge?...

Sounds very much like it to me.

I guess that would be the expected response!!! I'm not sure what difference it makes, but yes I am a Labour Party supporter at a national level, but that was only confirmed after the general election. I come from a strong Labour family, but I've always tried to remain impartial until I was confident to make up my mind for myself, without pressure from elsewhere. The fact that the Lib Dems are now showing their true colours on the national stage, I really couldn't vote for them again and that seems to be popular opinion according to all sides of the media.

On a local stage, there is not a lot of choice on whom to vote for. I wasn't here at the last local elections as I was working away. But local politics should be about making the rights decisions and campaining on local issues. That doesn't seem to be the case in West Berkshire, where a lot of time is wasted on small issues that the majority of people living here do not care about. When it does come to campaigning, the only leaflets we recieve are regarding national politics. What I want to hear is what the plan is locally. Where is the affordable housing going to be built? How can we safeguard facilities like the Nature Discovery Centre? What is the way forward for Thatcham Town Centre? What is being done to help the Kennet Centre from suffering total oblivion when the Parkway opens? Where is the education provision for all of the new houses, and where is the employment provision? What action is being taken to safeguard and develop rural communities???

The big question is not what political party I will be supporting at the next general election, but like all of the other electorate, I'm looking at who is best going to serve my interests at the next election??? Who will tackle the big issues open and honestly??? Pamela Bale tried to raise funds at the Nature Discovery Centre through parking charges, but publicly lied about why she wanted to do and rather than offering an apology when caught out, she tried to shift the focus onto Thatcham Town Council. She has also proved to be completely out of touch regarding the enviormental issues in Victoria Park due to the Parkway development. I'm sorry to single Cllr Bale out, but she has become a laughing stock and it is completely her own doing. She also represents the overall picture of an out of touch, out of date and backward thinking local authority and there needs to be a major shake up. Party politics to one side please, how can we best move forward to try and salvage what we can from this mess.

Hi

I don't "do" politics because to be honest whatever they say is never the truth but I completely agree with you Richard.  We should be told about affordable housing and be campaigning about better facilities, more schools and a half decent hospital.  The size of Newbury and surrounding and we have a minor A&E department, no facilities for an operation other than an ingrowing toenail removal etc.  Schools are stretched to breaking point and as far as I know it now takes about two weeks to get an appointment at the doctors.....

West Berkshire was Lib Dem until 2005. It was the Lib Dems who stitched us up with Vision 2025 under the guidance of Nick Carter who is now Chief Executive. We all breathed a sigh of relief when the Conservatives took over in 2005, expecting common sense to prevail. Unfortunately the Conservatives didn't have a clue what they were doing and just made the situation worse. The electorate gave the Tories an overwhelming majority in 2007 and they now do anything that they want without worrying about the opposition.

The local elections take place next May. Time to rally your Labour cronies to see if you have any support. I very much doubt it.

Quoted from pinkcoral04

Hi

I don't "do" politics because to be honest whatever they say is never the truth but I completely agree with you Richard.  We should be told about affordable housing and be campaigning about better facilities, more schools and a half decent hospital.  The size of Newbury and surrounding and we have a minor A&E department, no facilities for an operation other than an ingrowing toenail removal etc.  Schools are stretched to breaking point and as far as I know it now takes about two weeks to get an appointment at the doctors.....

All this after 12 years of Labour? Hopefully the tories will sort it all out for you.

I don't know many people in West Berks, and those who I do know are not politically minded. I just hate the fact that a small number of people are destroying the area. We need a clear plan on how to get us out of this mess, regardless of political bias. The problem it would seem is that all of the major decisions are taken by officers who are not accountable to the electorate. This allows the elected members the time to discuss the same issues (like Tony Vickers and his bike chums) over and over again when the important issues often get railroaded through by the officers by hiding consultations and documents on their website, preventing the members of the community from having any real say until it's too late. We need an open, honest and transparent local authority and when we go to the polls in May next year, we should all vote for whoever has a proper plan to move the area forward and prevent us from remaining stuck in the goldfish bowl of bad decisions.

Quoted from richard.garvie

But local politics should be about making the rights decisions and campaining on local issues.

Make your mind up. On the other thread you are suggesting that Tony Vickers should be wearing a hair shirt because of Nick Clegg's schmoozing with Cameron.

Read the whole thread. I was responding to Tony Vickers letter in the paper saying that the Labour Government was all a train wreck. At the end of the article, I make it clear that to retain support locally, the Lib Dems will need to come up with some real solutions to local problems.

Write more concisely, as I can't manage a whole diatribe. But essentially he's correct. Two unnecessary wars (at least one of which was illegal and was justified by lies) and money wasted on a scale that seems unimaginable.  

The whole war issue is up for debate. I supported it at the time, now I'm not so sure now. A lot of people feel the same and in time, we will find out if it was illegal but I too suspect that it was fought based on lies and spin. The deficit is damning on Gordon Brown and his whole economic strategy and Tony Vickers is right to point that out.

But the point I was getting at is the Lib Dems need to tell us what they plan to do locally if they want to retain support here. Labour have not had as much as a local councillor in West Berks, and look at the mess things are in here??? In response to Tony's letter, I've already exposed that the Lib Dems have been complicit in the savage and irresponsible cuts taking place now at national level. I've already made it clear that the Lib Dems have sold out on their own policy in favour of government perks.

Pointing out the failings of the last government will not be enough to get people voting for the Lib Dems locally.

The point of this particular thread is the mess that the whole of WBDC is in, and that Pamela Bale is now unwittingly the ridicule of people here in West Berks. She represents what people have thought of our elected members for some time, and that is that they are completely out of touch on REAL ISSUES. Blaming the Labour Government for the war in Iraq will never justify the disgraceful local decisions taken by councillors here.

Quoted from 26

one of which was illegal  

Just out of interest...(and as it seems to make such a difference to everyone) do you know how many LEGAL wars this country has been involved in, in say, the last 300 years?


Threep.

Anyway, back to the point in hand. Is it just me that thinks Pamela Bale has came out of this looking bad? Am I the only one who thinks the council is out of touch with the majority of people in West Berkshire?

For the life of me, I cannot see what a war in Iraq has got to do with WBC nor the finacial mess that we are in due to lack of control of the banks. Local politics should be about local issues and what the candidate's political leaning is should not enter into the equation. I believe that there are delusions of grandeur, believing that they are as important as the Westminster politicians.

I did find it more than a little irritating that at the vision conference, they, WBC, were full steam ahead for a spring opening of Parkway with an immediate follow on for the Wharf vision. Mrs Bale just managed to trot out all the old nonsense about the proposals for the Wharf and the Pavilion in the park. I cannot believe that the delay in opening Parkway was unknown at that stage. I also wonder what Mrs Bales qualifications in civil engineering are, or does she just have to believe whatever is fed to her by the various non elected personnel in WBC. I feel a little sorry for her as she appears to be totally out of her depth. Is the Vision, Parkway, Pavilion etc such a hot potato that none of the boys in the club want to try to hold it so it's passed down to someone who can be a sacrificial lamb. (Emma Webster then Pamela Bale)

Quoted from richard.garvie

Anyway, back to the point in hand. Is it just me that thinks Pamela Bale has came out of this looking bad? Am I the only one who thinks the council is out of touch with the majority of people in West Berkshire?

No most of us do - but User23 (who works for the council) seems to think we are a minority.  Does seem to be a case of all in WBC covering their collective eyes and ears and believing that by pretending everything is fine these nasty people that think they are incompetent idiots will go away!